De’Lindsey Mack’s family says they have found an Instagram account of his that they previously didn’t know existed. They say he posted pictures of himself on the account with his father’s guns and money and also interacted with people they think are gang members.

In reality, the family says, that is not who De’Lindsey was.

De’Lindsey Mack.

“It’s sad that someone can create a persona on social media to make someone hate them that bad,” De’Lindsey’s father, Dwight Mack, said at a press conference Monday. “These are simple words and pictures.”

Family pastor DZ Cofield said parents need to keep a better eye on their children’s social media accounts, calling De’Lindsey’s Instagram an “alternate persona.”

“We have a generation of people who live for the like, and when I say live for the like, they want the heart, they want the thumbs up, and so now you post that and now somehow people think oh wow, you’re hard. And you put the gun back where your father keeps it, you put his money back where it belongs, but that’s the image that you present,” Cofield said.

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Davis Land

General Assignments Reporter

Davis Land is a general assignment reporter for Houston Public Media. He cut his teeth at Atlantic Public Media/Transom.org in Woods Hole, MA and at WBUR in Boston. His work has appeared on various public radio programs and podcasts including Texas Standard, Here and Now, and Marketplace. Davis is a...